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Review: Quickies by Ollie Levy (Short Story Collection)
In this collection we meet a wide variety of people from all walks of life….some are married, single, engaged…..some have high flyer careers, and some are average Joe’s, but they all have one thing in common….they all love a good quickie. Why fuss with a marathon love making session when a quickie will get the job done? That’s the question that Ollie Levy explores in her series of short stories appropriately titled Quickies. What I loved about this collection was each randevú was short and sweet. There wasn’t a lot of back story and the characters literally got right down to business. It made for a fast and steamy read. It wasn’t overly graphic…
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Review: Me Before You by Jojo Moyes
Will Traynor has everything going for him–he’s rich, good looking, powerful, adventurous, cultured, vibrant, and successful. Until one day, a tragic accident takes all of that away leaving him with nothing but memories of a previous life. Will is now a quadriplegic who must rely on others to fulfill his basic needs. Naturally he is depressed and hates that his once fulfilling, active life is now nothing but a series of doctor appointments and catheter changes. He simply wants to die. After the accident, Will moved from his posh London residence to his parents house near Stortfold Castle in the English country side. He is miserable. Louisa “Lou” Clark has…
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Review: Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful #1) by Jamie McGuire
You don’t know what power is until you hold someones future in the palm of your hand. Abby Abernathy knows that feeling. This sweet, good girl from Kansas controls every aspect of campus bad boy, Travis Maddox’s life without even knowing it. Abby meets Travis at a campus underground fight night. She knows his reputation and what everyone calls him….the walking one night stand. Man whore. Bad boy. There is no way she is ever going to fall for his antics….ever, she’s too smart for that. She is repulsed by him but yet oddly intrigued. Every girl on campus thinks they are going to be the one to tame Travis.…
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Review: On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves
Is age really just a number? Does true love transcend all things? Even through extreme, desperate situations? Even through a large age gap? Does wanting different things or being in a different spot matter when love is involved? Thirty year old Anna is an English teach. She needs time to think about her life. She has been with her boyfriend of eight years and they still aren’t married. She feels like she is just waiting and waiting for a life that isn’t going t happen. So when the opportunity to get away comes….she takes it. TJ is a sixteen and recovering from cancer. His parents want to take a celebratory…
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Review: The Earthquake Machine by Mary Pauline Lowry
They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, in the case of Rhonda her single step leads here on a transcendental journey into Mexico. Mary Pauline Lowry’s debut novel, The Earthquake Machine, tells the story of 14 year old Rhonda whose life has been turned upside down. Rhonda’s mother is the typical ‘desperate housewife’, in a loveless marriage more about convenience and comfort than love. Rhonda’s father (a pharmacist) supplies her unstable mother with prescription drugs to keep her in line while he is out having an affair. They live in a ticky tacky house on the hillside where all the houses look just the same….but thanks to the…
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Review: The Bride of Lammermoor by Sir Walter Scott
Beware the Ravenswood! Sir Walter Scott’s, The Bride of Lammermoor is a must read for fans of the genre….a classic gothic romance! This is your ultimate indulgence gothic romance fans…honest and truly. This ridiculously over the top tale has it all…witches, women going mad, a family fallen from grace, degenerative castles, ruined fortunes, Byronic heros, star crossed lovers, a dark prophecy, ominous symbology….everything! It is MacBeth, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Wuthering Heights all rolled into one. The novel is introduced as a tale based on a true story, set in Scotland at the time of Queen Anne (early 1700’s). Lord Ravenswood is dead and all that remains of the Ravenswood…
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Review: Pierre and Luce by Romain Rolland (a short story)
On the war torn streets of Paris 1918, two lovers meet by chance on a subway. Pierre is a modern day ‘Hamlet’….depressed, hopeless, and disillusioned by the world in which he lives–in his reality, he is an 18 year old middle class boy who has just received his conscription papers. But when he sees Luce on the subway, she is his ray of hope–a promise of a better life than the one destine to be his future. But does she see him? Does she know? Does she feel it too? Why would a girl so full of hope and life look twice at him? Before he can make his introduction,…
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Review: Poughkeepsie by Debra Anastasia
There is only one word to describe Debra Anastasia’s novel Poughkeepsie…..elegant. I feel absolutely privileged to review this novel, the cover alone is completely breathtaking and haunting…I couldn’t help but say yes to a review. When I first read the summary, I was not sure that this novel was entirely in my general review genre and I was not sure how the story would fit together as it sounded abstract. I am normally not a huge fan of contempo lit, let alone contempo romance, I feel like contempo lit generally leaves the reader feeling disturbed. Many of the characteristics of contempo lit are feelings of hopelessness, questioning a world that…
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Review: Letters In Cardboard Boxes by Abby Slovin
How do you want to be remembered? How would others see you? How would you see yourself? What if you didn’t remember who you were? That is precisely what happens in Abby Slovin’s novel Letters in Cardboard Boxes. Parker’s beloved grandma has suddenly become a stranger to her….confused and rapidly declining, Parker must face an alarming reality: her eccentric, loving grandmother is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Throughout her life Parker has come to rely on her grandma. While her parents have all but abandoned her, Parker has felt awfully alone with no one to shield her but her grandma. Parker’s grandma helps her cope with the abandonment of her parents…
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Review: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
Like music to a readers ear, Jennifer Egan’s novel A Visit from the Goon Squad flows lyrically from page to page. The story, character, words, and tone of the novel come together in perfect harmony from beginning to end. I had the pleasure of meeting Jennifer Egan at Portland’s book festival, Wordstock, this past month where I had her sign my copy of Goon Squad. Not only was she charming and polite in person, she was also very ‘real’ and down to earth, smiling and greeting every fan and answering all their questions with genuine interest. I had heard lots of great things about this novel, not to mention its…